Together Apart
by transmutejun
Summary: Set in the Eagle Riders Universe. This fic was written for the Gatchamanaia Romance challenge. Joe unexpectedly discovers that he and Kelly make a good team. Unfortunately, not good enough...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The shimmering laser beam shot past the yellow-tipped nose of the Ultra Eagle, narrowly missing the large warship as Ollie maneuvered the craft away from the line of fire. His efforts were needed again a mere second later however, when another round of attacks came forth from the eyes of the worm-like Vorak mecha writhing in front of the ship.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this!" Ollie reported, his voice clearly expressing the strain he was under. "Otto's not much help with this kind of flying, and the Ultra Eagle's already been damaged, so she isn't responding as well as I would like!"

"We have to get out of here!" Kelly offered her astute observation. "We can't destroy that thing yet, but we can't take much more just sitting here, either!"

"But Hunter's still down there!" Mickey cried, jumping up and out of his seat. "We can't abandon him!"

"And because Hunter's still aboard that damn mecha, we can't destroy it, either." Joe growled. "What the hell is he doing over there?" The Falcon turned his penetrating gaze in the Dove's direction.

"We got to Data Center, and I retrieved the stolen files, just like Dr. Keane ordered us to do." Kelly stated. "I set the last charge in the system, so it would be destroyed along with the mecha, and the Vorak wouldn't be able to reconstruct their stolen information. Hunter and I were just about to leave when Mallanox appeared with a bunch of Vorak androids. Hunter left me to fight the androids while he went after Mallanox."

"Just like him to run after Mallanox when he knows we're all waiting for him!" Joe said angrily, slamming his fist down on the console. "He should have been the _first_ one back, and instead he's running off on some wild goose chase! He _never_ catches Mallanox!"

"Well, to be technically correct, sometimes Hunter _has_ caught Mallanox, but Mallanox has _still_ managed to get away." Kelly smiled slightly.

The Falcon's only response was a disgusted snort.

"I need an answer, Joe!" Ollie shouted, a hint of desperation in his voice. "They've already clipped our wing!"

"I'm going to disable their weapons." Joe declared, after only a fraction of a second's hesitation. His finger moved toward the red button in the center of his control panel, and the glass cover retracted.

"No!" Mickey yelped, rushing over and grabbing Joe's right arm with both hands. "You can't! Even a small explosion will set off all of the charges we left inside!"

He had a point. This Vorak mecha had been set up with various protective bulkheads, preventing an explosion in one section from impacting another. All eight sections had to be destroyed separately in order to finish the alien craft. Even worse, the alien metal from which the craft was made had a frequency dampening effect, and communications couldn't get in or out, even on their bracelets.

The strategy the Eagle Riders Team had employed was to infiltrate the vessel, splitting up to allow Joe, Mickey and Ollie to plant seven of the charges, while Kelly and Hunter could retrieve the stolen files and plant the last charge in the Data Center itself. They had intended to set off those charges remotely, using a special transmitter designed to break through the dampening fields, once they all were back on board. But a Bird Missile hitting the mecha would have the same effect.

The Falcon lifted his right arm up, with the small Swallow still hanging on, until Mickey was dangling helplessly above the floor. Seemingly unbothered by this state of affairs, Joe calmly moved the index finger of his left hand over the button.

"If I do it right, this detonation _won't_ set off the charges." Joe said with a deadly quiet. "But after all, I _am_ right-handed, and my aim isn't as good with my left."

Mickey appeared shamefaced, and relaxed his grip to slide off of Joe's arm, crumpling to the floor.

"Aw, no, damn it…" Ollie swore loudly, and the Ultra Eagle shifted quickly, sending Mickey and Joe to the ground. Kelly and Ollie only held onto their seats thanks to their safety belts. The warship suddenly stopped its forward movement, and it felt as if the entire craft had slammed into a giant wall. Smoke began to pour out of Mickey's control panel.

"We have a fire in the Armory!" Kelly cried frantically, initiating the automated fire suppression systems in that area. She did _not_ want to go down to the storage area and have no alternative but to put out burning Bird Missiles with a hand-held fire extinguisher.

Fortunately, she didn't have to.

"Armory temperatures returning to normal." the Dove reported in a relieved voice. "But we can't afford to take another one of those hits."

"What the hell was that?" Joe demanded.

"Some kind of sonic beam!" Ollie replied through gritted teeth. "I hate to say it Joe, but if you don't shoot that thing now, we may not be in a shape to get out of here."

"The Vorak mecha is now attacking the ground!" Kelly shouted, relaying the horrifying information that was coming across her data screen. "It's sending laser fire down to Phaedra City! Evacuations haven't been completed yet!"

The Dove turned to the Falcon, her eyes like granite.

"We _have_ to stop them, Joe, they're going to target the orphanage! Three thousand kids…" Her voice carried only a hint of the desperation she felt.

"But Hunter…" Mickey's protest was lost as another one of the laser shots hit the Ultra Eagle.

"That's it! Damn, you, Hunter!" Joe grimaced, depressing the red fire button.

The silver Bird Missile streaked through the air, landing squarely between what passed for the mecha worm's eyes. A small explosion shook the 'head' of the craft, and the laser fire immediately ceased.

"You did it, Joe!" Ollie grinned widely.

"No." Joe sighed. "It moved at the last second. I think…"

But before the Falcon could finish his thought, another explosion burst through the mecha's head, and the rest of its body blew apart a fraction of a second later.

"It set off the charges…" Mickey whispered.

The four Eagle Riders watched flaming wreckage of the Vorak mecha fall harmlessly into the ocean in a gloomy silence.

"Hunter…" Kelly said quietly, bowing her head.

An angry voice broke the mournful hush of the Bridge.

"What the hell are you doing, Joe? I nearly got caught in that blast! Why didn't you wait for my signal?"

"Hunter!" Joe said, raising his bracelet communicator to his mouth. The Falcon's body posture visibly relaxed at the sound of the Hawk's voice.

"Your orders were to wait until we were _all_ back on board, Joe!" Hunter sounded as angry as any of them had ever heard him. "Can't you do what you're told _for once_? Who's in command of this team, anyway?"

It was clear that despite the seeming initial success of the mission, there were a few issues yet to be resolved.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Did you knowingly disobey orders, Joe?" Dr. Thaddeus Keane asked the Falcon.

The entire team was now standing in Dr. Keane's office at Global Security Council Headquarters, where they often underwent debriefings from their missions. Despite wearing the more informal, civilian versions of their uniforms, the Eagle Riders were all rigid from the tension filling the room.

"I felt the circumstances were justified." Joe replied.

"You felt it was justified to fire upon a craft that you _knew_ would explode upon contact with a Bird Missile, when your Commander was aboard?" Hunter demanded angrily. The Hawk shoved his face into that of the Falcon, who sneered contemptuously in return.

"I explained that already." Joe growled, frustration seeping into his voice. "Ollie wasn't able to keep dodging the Vorak laser fire, and they hit us with some kind of sonic beam that set the Armory on fire and nearly destroyed us. The mecha was shooting at civilians and was about to attack the orphanage. We had no idea where you were, and you had already changed the plan by not returning to the Ultra Eagle with Kelly."

"That doesn't give you the right to change my orders!" Hunter shouted. Kelly, Mickey and Ollie cringed. They couldn't recall ever seeing Hunter this enraged before. "Ever since you've returned, Joe, you've been running off without telling us where you're going, and showing up again when you feel like it! And now, even when you're with the Team, you're acting like _you're_ the one in charge!"

"Maybe that's just because _you're_ not up to the job!" Joe retorted angrily, raising his fist menacingly.

"Hunter! Joe! That is enough!" said Dr. Keane sternly. The two angry young men stepped back slightly, still glaring at each other.

"Does anyone else have anything to add?" Dr. Keane asked, doing his best to ignore the barely controlled rage emanating in waves from the Hawk and the Falcon.

Ollie and Mickey shuffled their feet nervously, staring at the ground.

"I… I do." Kelly said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at the Dove, and five pairs of eyes stared intently at the young woman as she began to speak.

"What Joe is saying is correct." Kelly's eyes shot over toward the Falcon, whose visage softened for the briefest of moments. "There was no way we could take another hit. We were going to either have to attack the mecha, or retreat and let it destroy the orphanage."

Kelly took a deep breath, knowing that whatever she said now, she would be choosing sides, and _someone_ would never forgive her.

She just prayed that she could live with that.

"In my opinion, Joe made the right choice."

Hunter exploded, rounding on Joe again.

"And now you're corrupting _my_ officers!" he accused the Falcon.

"_Your_ officers?" Joe snorted, seemingly nonplussed by the Hawk's enraged tone. "And here I thought we were a 'team'."

"A team whose unity _you_ undermine every time you are with us!" Hunter spat. "I'm sick of turning around to find that you have gone off on some other secret mission that not even Dr. Keane knows about! I've had it up to here with your tendency to ignore my orders whenever it suits you! I'm not going to stand for your insolent attitude anymore!"

Kelly, Mickey and Ollie gasped as Joe's fist drew back.

"Going to hit me, are you?" Hunter smirked. "Isn't that what you usually do, when you don't agree with me, Joe? You punch me in the gut and then go on with whatever you wanted to do anyway."

"Hunter is right." Dr. Keane added, physically stepping between the two young men. "There have been too many occasions in the past few months where you have hit your Commander, Joe. This kind of behavior cannot be allowed to continue."

Rather than accepting the Doctor's admonishing statement, Joe only grew angrier.

"You are the ones who begged _me_ to come back and rejoin the team!" he reminded everyone. "I was ready to go off again on my own, but it was _you_, Hunter, who told me that it would be better if I were a part of the team."

"Maybe I was wrong."

Hunter's words hung in the air, as everyone's jaws dropped to the floor.

"If that's how you feel about it, then I quit." Joe said quietly, removing his bracelet and dropping it on Dr. Keane's desk.

Before anyone could react, the Falcon had stalked out of the room.

The moment Joe had left, Kelly whirled to face Hunter.

"I can't believe you said that!" she cried. "You call him back and apologize, right now, Hunter!"

"I can't do that, Kelly." Hunter said coldly, turning away from the Dove.

Another quiet thunk came from Dr. Keane's desk, and the Hawk looked back to see that there were now two bracelets lying there.

Kelly was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Joe, wait!"

The tall, muscular form kept moving down the street, although Kelly knew that he had heard her. She put on a burst of speed, rushing as fast as she could down the front steps of the Global Security Building and then sprinting down the sidewalk until she had caught up with him.

"I asked you to wait for me!" she said as she approached. She was puffing slightly from her exertion. "I'd like to talk to you, Joe."

In acknowledgement of her presence, Joe slowed down slightly, but he didn't look at Kelly.

"Go back, Kelly." he said. "I appreciate that you tried to stand up for me, but if you don't get back to stand by Hunter now, you'll be digging yourself into one deep hole."

"You mean, the same hole that _you're_ in?" she asked quietly. "I suspect that I'm right down there with you."

"I'm _not_ going back."

"I know that."

He stopped so suddenly that Kelly had taken two steps before she recognized that he was no longer with her. She turned around to see Joe Thax wiping an expression of surprise from his face.

"So why are you here?" he asked bluntly.

"What Hunter said… he was wrong, Joe."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I know you're not going to go back…"

"Not even if Hunter begged me on his hands and knees."

"You know, I don't think Hunter actually knows how to beg."

"Sure he does." Joe smirked, starting to walk again, only this time at a more leisurely pace. "Don't you remember?"

Kelly shook her head, confused.

"Father!" Joe said, in a whiny, high-pitched tone. "Don't leave me! Let me come with you!"

Kelly quickly stifled a giggle behind her hand. Joe looked sharply at her, and the Dove appeared embarrassed to have been caught.

"You're right." she admitted. "I guess, when the circumstances are right, Hunter_can_ beg."

"That's not what I expected to hear you say." Joe replied, his eyes searching Kelly's face. When she didn't respond further, he spoke again.

"You need to go back, Kelly. _Now_."

"Since you're no longer my ranking officer, I guess I don't have to obey that order, now do I?" Kelly grinned.

"You don't want to stay with me." Joe insisted. "If you're not careful, you'll be off the Team as well."

"Too late."

"What?"

Joe's eyes darted down to glance at Kelly's left wrist, noting the pale band of skin there.

"You _quit_?"

"I didn't want to stay, once you had gone."

"Great idea." Joe replied sarcastically. "What are you going to do now? Throw yourself into your Snack Bar?"

"Actually, I thought I could come with you."

Joe snorted in amusement.

"I hardly think you'd want to come with me, Kelly. Do you have any idea what I'm going to do?"

"You're going to fight the Vorak."

"You make it sound so simple."

"I know it's not. I've done it before, and you know that. Whether or not I'm an Eagle Rider, I want to fight them. I'm not just going to lay down and let them take over our planet!"

"And what makes you think you can do that as a civilian?"

"You did it, didn't you?"

Joe didn't say a word in response, but the corners of his eyes tightened.

"I know you did, while you were gone. That's why you were helping us, before you rejoined the team. Whatever it is you are going to do, I want to help you, Joe."

"If you want to fight the Vorak so much, why don't you just go back to Hunter and tell him that you made a mistake?"

"Because you're better at it than he is."

A tiny smirk crossed Joe's face. It was gone so quickly that Kelly wasn't entirely certain that she'd even seen it.

"What make you say that?"

"Face it, Joe, you've always got better information than we do. Or maybe it's just better hunches. I don't know. But invariably, whenever you and Hunter disagree on how to handle something, you just go off and do it anyway, and you're always right."

"You think so, huh?"

"Why do you think you get under Hunter's skin so much?"

"Is that what you think?"

"It's what I know."

Joe continued walking, but he turned his head to look at Kelly as she kept pace alongside him. Her face was strong and determined, but completely without guile. Whatever she was saying, she was being completely honest.

"Okay, tell me what you know." Joe smiled in an indulgent way.

"I can tell that you're laughing at me, Joe Thax, but it's the truth. Before you were lost on that mission, you and Hunter sometimes disagreed, but you didn't challenge his authority so much. He would listen to what you had to say, but once he made a decision, you would abide by it."

"Things were different, back then." Joe sounded almost regretful.

"Exactly. Ever since you've returned, it's like you've had this special insight into the Vorak. You always seem to know what we should do, to the point of disobeying Hunter if he doesn't agree with you. Hunter resents it, and he's starting to feel that his position as team leader is being compromised."

"Well if I know I'm right, I'm not going to go do the wrong thing just to stroke his ego. If Hunter can't deal with that…"

"It's more than that."

"Oh?"

"Even when you two agree, if there's a dangerous task, _you_ always want to be the one who does it. You don't want anyone else to take any risks. For awhile, none of us understood it, but now that we know that you're…"

Kelly stopped speaking as Joe glared furiously at her. She knew that Joe didn't like to be reminded of his cybernetic components, so she took a deep breath and re-phrased what she had been about to say.

"Now that we understand _why_ you can deal with these things better than the rest of us, it makes more sense." she continued. "But Hunter still feels like _you're_ the hero. _You_ always know what to do, _you_ always take on the most dangerous assignments. Outside of his ego, I think he's scared that you want to take control of the team."

"That's the _last_ thing I want!" Joe snorted.

"But Hunter doesn't know that." Kelly pointed out. "I think you need to talk to him, get this out in the open."

"That's not going to happen now."

"I guess not." Kelly sighed. "But in any case, I'd like to…"

She stopped speaking as Joe held up a hand, motioning for her to be quiet. Kelly looked around, seeing what had caught Joe's attention.

As they had continued walking, they had moved out of the government and financial sector of the city, and into an outlying industrial district. Joe's attention was fixed on a warehouse across the street.

A warehouse next to which two men in green uniforms were standing.

The men were apparently taking a smoking break, and were talking to each other, their backs to the street. Even as Kelly and Joe watched, the men tossed their butts aside, walking back into the building.

"What are the Vorak doing here?" Joe hissed.

"That's what we're going to find out." Kelly smirked.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As casually as they could, the pair made their way across the street, to the chain link fence that surrounded the warehouse. There was no sidewalk over here, and the fence was about ten feet in from the border of the road itself, a small patch of gravel separating it from the cars and trucks driving by. Joe was about to reach out and touch the metal barrier when Kelly stopped him by planting her hand on his arm.

"I don't think so." she said quietly, tossing her head to indicate a small grey box at the top corner of the fence.

Joe glanced at the box, realizing what Kelly was trying to say. The fence was electrified with enough voltage to fry his circuits. Dr. Andro had talked about reinforcing his insulating layer so that he could deal with just these types of circumstances, but the scientist hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"Thanks." Joe replied, giving Kelly a once over. There was a lot more to her than met the eye. He'd always found her skills to be a valuable addition to the team, and her instincts had literally just saved his skin. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have her around after all. He was confident that she could take care of herself in a fight, and she knew a hell of a lot more about intelligence operations and demolitions than he did.

And she wasn't hard on the eyes, either.

Joe roughly pushed that thought aside. He had had those kinds of feelings for Kelly once, and at one point he had almost acted on them. But then the war with the Vorak had intensified and the only thing any of them had had time for was their never-ending battle with the alien race. It had sapped all of their strength, all of their energy, for years.

And then, Joe had died.

Of course, Joe supposed he hadn't _really_ died. But in a way, he felt that he had. He had come out of Dr. Andro's lab as something else… something foreign. Something that was not the Joe Thax he had known before.

But perhaps there was still some of the old Joe left.

Joe had shut the rest of the team out of his mind, especially since Dr. Blabbermouth Aikens had revealed his secret to them. Before that, he put in the minimum effort, having the occasional drink at Kelly's Snack Bar with the others, just to prove that he was still 'one of them'.

But it had become clear rather quickly that this was no longer the case. His occasional difference of opinion with Hunter had escalated, and once everyone knew that he was no longer human… well, Kelly had summed things up pretty well during the past hour.

Joe knew that the others saw him differently, now that they knew. They had dedicated their lives to fighting the android races of the Vorak, and now to have a man built with Vorak technology on their team; naturally they were having a hard time dealing with it. They hid their feelings well, but Joe Thax knew how the other Eagle Riders _truly_ saw him.

_But not Kelly_.

The thought rose up in his mind, insisting on returning every time he shoved it aside. Not long after Dr. Aikens had told everyone that he was a cyborg, Dr. Keane had ordered Joe to climb the north face of the K3 mountain, stating that it was something no 'human' could accomplish. Joe had known what that meant. Even his former mentor was no longer convinced of his humanity.

Joe had brushed off everyone's attempts to join him, to the point of knocking Hunter and Ollie senseless. He would have rounded on Mickey as well, if the boy hadn't backed off.

Joe had never felt like less of a man in his life.

Kelly had stopped him with a simple concussion bomb, and told him he was being 'pouty and self-pitying', before offering some sensible advice and offering the use of her maps. Her straightforward words and no-nonsense attitude had nearly gotten to Joe, and he had sped off in the Falcon Tracker, nearly running her over in his haste to get away from her accurate insights into his new persona.

But that hadn't stopped her. Amazingly, she had continued to follow him, joining him on K3 as he climbed, bringing along the climbing gear he had purposely 'forgotten', in his attempt to deny the last vestiges of his humanity.

It had been _Kelly_ who had persisted in accompanying him. _Kelly_ who had been the one who had focused on him as a _man_, and not a machine.

And then it had been Kelly who had accidentally dropped the mini-bomb, and alerted Mallanox to their presence. The Vorak had sent a terrifying avalanche of snow toward their position, and Joe had been powerless to do anything but hold onto the mountain as the snow pounded him mercilessly from above.

It had only been afterward, that Joe had realized that Kelly had let go during the icy assault.

She had been unconscious, dangling in midair, hanging only by the rope that attached the two of them together. He hadn't thought twice, but had simply acted: bringing her up to the dubious safety of a nearby ledge. At that point, with no medical supplies and no way to treat the Dove, Joe had simply held her close, desperately hoping to keep her warm in the subzero temperatures for which K3 was famous.

It had been during those hours, holding her, that Joe had realized that his feelings for Kelly went deeper than he would ever have admitted under any other circumstances. From time to time she would almost surface to a conscious state, her eyelids fluttering, a soft sigh coming from her throat, before she nestled herself deeper into his embrace. And as he had held her there, under his wings, Joe had known that there was at least some part of him that was still a man.

It was this part of himself that frightened Joe Thax the most.

When they had finally been rescued, Kelly had turned to Joe, telling him that it was his body warmth… his _humanity_… that had kept her alive. Unable to deal with the naked emotion on her face, Joe had roughly shoved her into Hunter's arms, stalking away to distance himself from what she had said.

He wasn't human any more.

He _couldn't_ be human.

He was a machine of death. His body was merely a housing for the ultimate weapon against Cybercon. Dr. Andro had seen to that.

He couldn't afford any human weaknesses.

And looking at Kelly right now, Joe knew that the Dove was his greatest weakness of all.

But Kelly apparently was not privy to his innermost thoughts, as she was already circling the fence, carefully examining it up and down, while appearing to be utterly bored for the benefit of anyone watching her. Joe didn't see any security cameras, but certainly Kelly was right to be cautious.

She went around the corner, almost out of Joe's sight, then bent down. Concerned, Joe followed the path she had taken, and came upon her apparently tying her shoe. The only thing wrong with the picture was that Joe knew that Kelly wore slip on shoes, as did the rest of the Eagle Riders. Or former Eagle Riders, as the case may be.

It was only his cybernetically enhanced vision that allowed Joe to see the quick, tiny movements Kelly was making, her fingers flicking out to brush against a small box at the edge of the fence. It appeared non-descript, but clearly was not, if the Dove was spending time playing with it.

"Five seconds, Joe."

It was the barest of whispers, but one the Falcon heard easily with his sensitive ears. He nodded imperceptibly, somehow understanding that Kelly would see, and slowly walked toward her position, timing his strides to arrive at her position at the appointed time.

_Five…. four… three… two…_

Kelly straightened up, her fingers flickering against the box one last time, and a small light Joe hadn't noticed before glowed green at the top of the fence. A section of the chain link wall simply disappeared before their eyes, leaving an opening large enough for a man to walk through.

"Hologram." Kelly whispered with a grin. "Vorak technology is _so_ predictable."

It may have been predictable to Kelly, but it never would have occurred to Joe. She stepped aside slightly, inviting him to take the lead. The Falcon grunted his appreciation, moving through the opening without incident, the Dove close behind. Swiftly, they walked to the door through which the two soldiers had entered.

Joe took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped into the building.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Joe and Kelly crept down the hallway, keeping to the shadows as they took in everything they could about their surroundings: building layout, threat potential, proximity of security cameras and guards. Although the corridor was dark and completely bare, they left nothing to chance. To be careless around the Vorak was to risk capture; something neither of them wanted to contemplate.

The warehouse appeared to be built _around_ something. As far as they could tell, the corridor through which Joe and Kelly were making their way ran along the outside wall of the building. There were no interior doors or windows to let them know where they were, much less any exterior openings. Only the dimly lit hallway stretched in front of them, one section indistinguishable from the next.

They turned the corner at the end of the hall, only to see another featureless corridor stretching beyond. But just around the second corner, they came across what they had been looking for.

An elevator.

Of course, who knew where it went, or how it was accessed?

"Interesting…" whispered Kelly, as she bent down to examine the access panel. "It looks like it requires access card verification to enter."

"I have an access card." Joe smirked, pushing his fist into his other hand.

"Much as I _love_ your way of dealing with things, Joe, I think I can do better." Kelly smirked, prying the panel off of the wall and peering inside. "Let's see…"

A few seconds later, the indicator screen at the top of the wall showed that the elevator was approaching. Kelly quickly replaced the panel, after which she and Joe stood flat against the wall, on either side of the door.

A soft ding announced the arrival of two Vorak guards. They were both greeted by a punch in the head, and dropped to the floor without seeing their attackers.

"Looks just about my size." Joe grinned, pulling the green uniform off of the first android.

"Green is definitely _not_ your color, though." Kelly winked, as she began removing the clothes from the other Vorak.

"It is, for you."

Kelly stared at Joe in shocked silence for a moment, attempting to come to grips with what he had just said.

"Your eyes." Joe clarified, looking down. "Your green eyes suit you."

"Oh." Kelly replied, blushing. "That's nice to know." The Dove continued her task in silence. She felt a warm glow inside of her at the unexpected compliment, especially from someone as taciturn as Joe.

The relationship Kelly and Joe shared had always been close. When they had been children training for the Eagle Riders team they had been good friends, enjoying each other's company. When they had gotten older, they had continued that friendship, despite the usual social awkwardness between members of opposite genders during early adolescence. Kelly had always felt closer to Joe than to anyone else on the team. Hunter had constantly imposed a kind of self-isolation on himself, particularly after he had been accepted at flight school, leaving the others behind. Ollie and Mickey had taken to each other instantly, perhaps partly because Ollie had completed his flight school training before the boy had joined their ranks.

At one point, Kelly had thought that the feelings she and Joe shared might go deeper than friendship, but that had been at a time when their battle with the Vorak had been all-consuming, and there had been no time to explore such potential.

But that didn't mean that Kelly had never thought about it.

She had felt lost when Joe had 'died' in what they had hoped at the time would be their _final_ battle with the Vorak. For two years she had felt alone, deeply mourning his loss, and never really coming to grips with the Falcon's absence. Whenever she was working at her Snack Bar and she heard the bell over the entryway ring, she would always look up, half-expecting to see Joe walking in the door. They had never found his body, and somehow, that had prevented Kelly's mind from letting go of Joe's memory.

Her reluctance to admit that Joe was truly gone, either verbally or emotionally, had been a source of constant irritation for Hunter, enough that he had stopped coming by the Snack Bar as much. Kelly had learned not to express her views in front of the Hawk, but she held onto them, all the same. They had wrapped themselves around her heart, grasping at the tiniest straws of hope, each night as she had lain cold and alone in bed.

Eventually, of course, they had learned that Cybercon had returned to Earth, and the Eagle Riders team had gone back to active duty. Kelly had had a difficult time moving back to Gateway City and resuming their usual routine of training and minor guard duties, without seeing Joe there as well. The others had sensed this, and had helped her through it, but none of them had ever spoken of Joe's absence until that day when Dr. Keane had announced the Falcon's replacement.

It had come as a shock to all of them, but most of all to Kelly. She hadn't been prepared to accept that Joe would not be returning, much less that he should be replaced.

Of course, Zarnec hadn't lasted long with the team. He had been quickly exposed as a Vorak android and spy, and had been killed by a feather stunner shuriken… Joe's weapon.

It had been at that moment, staring at Zarnec's deactivated body with the feather shuriken embedded in the neck, that Kelly had finally been able to admit to herself what she had been denying for so long.

_She loved Joe._

The surge of elation welling up in her at the evidence that the Falcon was still alive had suddenly made sense.

_She loved Joe._

But her joy in that discovery had been short-lived, as Hunter had scorned her theory, and Joe had not stepped forth to proclaim his survival. Although Mickey and Ollie were clearly considering the possibility themselves, the Hawk persisted in proclaiming that it _couldn't_ be Joe.

But Kelly had known that it was.

Every time they had encountered the 'mysterious stranger' who had been assisting them, the Dove had only been more and more certain that it _was_ the Falcon.

And then one day, Joe Thax had returned.

She would never forget that moment. The image of Joe walking across the sand, approaching them as if he had only been gone for two hours, instead of two years; stopping to let _them_ approach _him_, as if he didn't want to just _assume_ that they had wanted him back in their lives.

For Kelly, there had been no question as to what _she_ wanted.

The Dove had run across the remaining distance that had separated them, her heart screaming that she had been right. She had been right! Joe _hadn't_ left them!

Joe hadn't left _her_.

He had come back.

She had stopped just short of him, simply drinking in the incredible sight of the Falcon whole and healthy, without a trace of the injuries he had suffered when he had disappeared. Ollie and Mickey had greeted him, but Kelly had barely noticed. She had only had eyes for Joe.

She had reached out, grasping his hands in her own before collapsing into his arms, tears of joy and relief pouring forth from her eyes as she had nestled herself into his embrace. At the time, Joe had appeared emotional as well, and she had thought that things between them would return to the way they had been before.

But they had not.

Ever since the day Joe had returned, he had been pulling away from the rest of the team. Kelly had been confused and hurt, but it had also been clear to her that Joe was dealing with a number of issues, to which she was not privy. She tried to talk to him, but he had rebuffed her efforts. She hadn't known exactly what barrier lay between them, but she had certainly understood that it was there.

When Dr. Aikens had finally shed some light on the matter, Kelly had been relieved, thinking that now that Joe's cyborg nature was no longer a secret, they could work things out.

But if anything, Joe was even more distant now, especially after their mission on K3. There, on that God-forsaken mountain, he had held her, keeping her body, and her love for him, alive. But later, he had refused to talk about it, only pushing her aside the moment the others had arrived, despite her attempts to reach out to him, to show him that he _was_ human after all, despite his man-made parts.

Kelly understood that this was something Joe had to work out for himself, and she was going to allow him to take all of the time he needed. But that didn't mean that she was going to let him go off on his own again, leaving the team behind forever.

Whether or not he knew it, Joe needed companionship. Isolation would only deepen his depression and sense of self-loathing. There was no way in hell Kelly was going to let Joe do that to himself, even if it meant leaving the Eagle Riders entirely.

She loved him too much to abandon him like that.

By now, neither of them looked like anything but Vorak guards. Unfortunately, even in the baggy uniform she was wearing, Kelly's feminine curves were difficult to hide. She was able to pull up her hair somewhat underneath the mask, but she knew she wouldn't stand a close inspection. As it was, Joe was averting his eyes, trying not to get lost in his own inspection of the Dove's attributes.

Kelly nodded to Joe, and the two of them entered the elevator, pressing the only button available to them from within the small box.

As they descended downward, the near darkness inside the elevator compartment was suddenly illuminated as the shaft in which they were traveling suddenly became a clear tube, descending along a wall through a giant hangar, revealing to them the purpose of this Vorak installation.

"A mecha…" Kelly whispered. "Another one? Didn't we just destroy their last mecha an hour ago?"

"It looks like… a wasp?" Joe asked, unable to answer the Dove's question.

They stared in awe at the alien attack craft, wondering for what purpose it was intended.

"We have to warn the others." Kelly said, raising her wrist to her mouth before realizing that her bracelet wasn't there.

"I'm not sure we can." Joe replied quietly. "It's up to _us_ to deal with this, Kel."

The Dove nodded, professional and calm.

"Understood."

The elevator reached the bottom of the massive hangar, its doors opening to allow them access. Slowly, the pair exited, and was moving off to the right when someone addressed them.

"Hey, you two!"

Joe turned to see a Vorak Captain in a yellow and black striped costume approaching them. Kelly stood slightly behind him: not quite hidden, but not completely visible either.

"Yes, Sir!" Joe replied, saluting smartly. Kelly attempted to copy the maneuver, but did so in a somewhat more clumsy manner.

"I need you both to help install the power couplings." the Captain ordered. "Get yourselves inside Waspagon and over to Engineering. And do it _now_! Mallanox is already furious about the delay!"

"Of course, Sir."

Joe and Kelly moved quickly, following the Captain up a large ramp and into the mecha. The Vorak stepped aside, gesturing sarcastically that Joe and Kelly were to take the lead. Fortunately, signs in the Vorak language directed them to Engineering. Between that and their previous experiences with Vorak mecha, they were able to find their way to where they had been directed without any obvious mistakes.

Once they had arrived and found the appropriate workstation, the Captain moved off to another part of the room, supervising other work being performed there. Kelly looked over their assigned equipment, whispering to Joe in an amused tone.

"I can't believe it!" she laughed softly. "This is the most inefficient, shoddy piece of work I've seen in a long time. No wonder this thing is behind schedule!"

"Well, see what you can do with it." Joe muttered, pretending to help. While the Falcon knew everything about car engines, this kind of technology was definitely not his forte.

"Oh, I can do something with this." Kelly winked at him.

Joe's heart lurched for a moment as he watched Kelly doing what she did best. She had chosen to come with him, and was more than pulling her fair share of weight.

Whatever its mission, they _had_ to destroy this 'Waspagon'. Mallanox's plans for it would obviously not be in the interests of the Global Good.

Joe surreptitiously looked around. On the way to their station, he had noted that the entire mecha was crawling with Vorak goons, and Engineering was currently filled with work crews.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joe saw a purple flash, and he quickly turned his head to see Mallanox entering the area. The Vorak Leader was accompanied by the Wasp Captain.

"What is taking so long, Captain?" Mallanox ranted, waving his arms wildly. "We were supposed to be underway three hours ago! The Eagle Riders have already defeated Wormstra, and may be returning back to their home base at any minute!"

"I apologize, Sir." the Captain snapped to attention. "We have been experiencing difficulties obtaining some of the supplies and parts we needed. But thanks to the raids on the Global Security Council's warehouses in this district, we now have all we require."

"Well, install it all immediately!" Mallanox screeched, stomping his foot childishly and pouting. His lower lip was quivering visibly underneath his mask. "Cybercon will drop us all into a black hole if we fail this time. As it is, he's already threatened to cancel my trip to Disneyland!"

"Disneyland?" the Wasp Captain asked, his jaw dropping in astonishment.

"Yes, Disneyland!" Mallanox snapped. "It's the 'Happiest Place on Earth', after all. Don't _I_ deserve to be happy?"

"Uh… yes, Sir!" the Captain saluted. "I'll just get back to overseeing the final adjustments. We will be ready to attack Gateway City in a few minutes."

"Excellent!" Mallanox was suddenly all smiles, clapping his hands together with glee. "I'm so glad that Cybercon was finally able to reactivate Eva Douglas' signal from within the complex. With the Eagle Riders still at Global Security Council Headquarters, Gateway City is defenseless against us!"

The Vorak Leader turned to glare at the Wasp Captain, who was staring, mouth agape, witnessing his superior officer's immature display.

"Didn't you say that it would be only a few minutes, Captain?" Mallanox demanded haughtily, sweeping from the room in a vain attempt to restore his shattered dignity.

The Captain sighed, turning away and moving toward Joe and Kelly. The Dove's fingers moved quickly, and the Falcon pretended to assist her, while in reality simply obscuring her actions from view with his own hands.

"How much longer?" the Wasp Captain demanded as he approached their position.

"Five minutes, Sir!" Joe replied in a harsh, guttural voice.

"Too long!" the Captain barked. "You have two minutes, then everyone will be needed to recalibrate the thruster relays for immediate departure!" The man roughly pulled away Joe's hands to get a better look at the power couplings Kelly was working on.

The Falcon held his breath. Would the man notice the Dove's tampering?

"What are you doing?" the Vorak shouted furiously at Kelly. Joe tensed, ready to strike. He and Kelly would have to fight their way out of this mecha in hand-to-hand combat. In his mind, the Falcon was already planning exit strategies.

"There's no time for redundant bypass circuits!" the Captain remonstrated Kelly harshly. "You're done! Just get the hell over to Propulsion Systems, _now_!"

"Yes, Sir!" Kelly grunted in a deep tone, quickly closing the cover panel over the section she had been working on, as the Captain walked away.

"How far did you get?" Joe whispered quietly, under cover of the noise of the drills they used to re-attach the panel to the wall.

"I was able to re-program the couplings to overload, feeding back into the main engines." Kelly reported. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to set a timer on it. We'll have to transmit the correct signal to this thing once we've gotten out of here."

"Then it's time to go." Joe nodded curtly, moving toward the exit. They _had_ to get off of this mecha before it was launched.

"Let's go back the way we came." he suggested.

But as the pair exited Engineering, they heard the Captain's voice behind them, as he spoke to a wall-mounted viewscreen.

"Mallanox, we are ready to depart!" he informed the Vorak Leader. "Our remaining work can be completed enroute to Gateway City!"

"How long until we arrive?" came Mallanox's voice.

"Approximately one hour." the Captain replied. "We'll head out to the ocean immediately, engaging the Stealth Supra-Structure so that Gateway City won't be able to detect us until it's too late."

"Excellent!" came the response from the Vorak Leader.

Kelly hurriedly pulled Joe from the room.

"We have to get off _now_, Joe!" she hissed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Without wasting even a second to acknowledge Kelly's words, Joe ran fast toward the exit, pulling Kelly behind him. His cybernetic abilities gave him incredible speed, and the Dove was clearly unable to keep up. They dashed by a shocked platoon of green uniformed soldiers.

"Hey, you!"

"Stop!"

"Is that a _female_?"

"Halt where you are!"

Joe and Kelly ignored the shouts of the men behind them, their feet pounding down the hallway for the exit, desperately trying to get off of the mecha before it departed from the base.

"_Intruder alert!"_

The computerized voice echoed through the corridor, dogging their every step, but it couldn't be helped. The goons they had passed had been quicker on the draw than Joe had expected. But it wouldn't matter once they got out of there and transmitted the signal to overload the power couplings and destroy the mecha.

A strange humming sound filled the air, replacing the computerized voice and seeming to vibrate through their bodies.

"What the hell is that?" Joe shouted.

"I think it's…"

Kelly's eyes widened as they turned the final corner. The entrance through which they had boarded the mecha was at the end of the hall, and it was beginning to close.

"Joe, run!" Kelly screamed, dropping the Falcon's hand and pushing him forward as much as she could.

Not stopping to ask questions, but simply trusting in the Dove's judgment, Joe put on a burst of speed, sprinting to the closing ramp, his cybernetic legs moving far faster than any human ever could.

The humming reached a loud crescendo, and then suddenly stopped.

Taken aback, Joe glanced behind him as he reached the closing ramp, preparing to jump through the small remaining space.

Kelly wasn't behind him.

At least, she wasn't _directly_ behind him. Instead, she was about fifty feet down the corridor, behind a series of shimmering force fields. One such field separated her from the Falcon. The source of the humming noise suddenly became clear to Joe. The force fields were neutronic.

While powerful, neutronic force fields could not be instantly generated, but required a few moments to charge before activation. Kelly had realized that the manifestation of the fields was imminent and had encouraged him on to go on ahead. Joe saw her now, edging away from the field behind her; no weapons or Birdstyle to prevent dozens of laser-rifle-carrying Vorak soldiers from approaching her position.

Kelly turned to see Joe standing frozen in place, beside the rapidly closing ramp.

"Go!" she shouted, pointing at the ramp as the goons reached the force fields surrounding her.

Joe made his decision without hesitation. Turning his back on the door, he ran back toward Kelly, hearing the electronic thunk of the ramp as it finished closing and sealed itself shut.

"Bad choice." came a vicious laugh. "Now _both_ of you will die."

Joe turned to see a Vorak Sergeant, backed by at least twenty men, coming from the other end of the corridor to block him in. There were far more troops approaching Kelly, but a force field separated the two former Eagle Riders.

The fields on the other side of Kelly were slowly being dissipated, one by one, allowing these other soldiers to get to the Dove's position.

But there were no barriers between Joe and the Vorak on his side.

Without a word, Joe threw himself into the air. He didn't have the benefit of his wings, but his powerful legs gave him a thrust that surprised the Sergeant, allowing Joe to punch him in the side of the head, the sickening crunch of splintering bone accompanying the maneuver. These were not androids then, but ordinary Vorak men, and Joe altered his fighting style accordingly.

Joe grabbed the fallen Sergeant's rifle, turning it around and firing into the other troops before the Vorak's shattered skull ever hit the ground. A few soldiers made it through the hail of laser bullets, only to find the Falcon's fists and feet literally ripping into their guts.

Usually when Joe fought, he attempted to restrain his incredible strength, pulling back just enough that he killed his opponents, yet didn't tear them apart in the process. But there was no time for such niceties now.

Kelly needed him.

A sea of bloodied green uniforms expanded at Joe's feet, a red haze covering his vision as he mowed down the attacking force as quickly as possible. His entire body was a blur as he moved at inhuman speed to tear the throats out of the Vorak men who attacked him. They were flesh and blood soldiers, not androids, but it made no difference to Joe.

They were preventing him from getting to Kelly.

The mecha shuddered under their feet as the Falcon's last opponent collapsed to the floor, and Joe turned back to see the Vorak on Kelly's side removing the last force field between themselves and the Dove. Despite their approach, Kelly remained away from the neuronic force field, as physical contact with such vast amounts of energy could send a human being into neuronic shock.

The Dove readied herself for combat, and began striking troops down the instant they approached her, while simultaneously dodging their laser fire with grace and skill. But without the protection of her Birdstyle, Joe knew it was only a matter of time before she got hit. Kelly's human flesh was not able to withstand the impact of the laser bullets the way his cyborg body could.

The Dove was backed into a corner, literally fighting for her life.

Grabbing another laser rifle, Joe shot full blast at the wall next to the field, a gun in each hand, creating a giant hole on the side of the barrier that allowed him access to the other battle. He ran for the opening, thinking only of Kelly.

But even as he did so, a Vorak soldier shot at her.

Kelly managed to evade the laser fire, only to come face to face with another soldier, who attempted to grab her arm. She spun away from his grasp, drop kicking him in the face as she did so, but a laser blast from another direction hit her shoulder, causing her to stumble backward into the neuronic field.

The Dove's body crashed to the floor, convulsing in erratic seizures that sent Joe into a frenzied panic. He blasted his guns at the remaining guards, then began lashing out with his legs and his fists, dealing instant death to anyone who approached him. His cyborg strength allowed him to swing his leg around, literally kicking _through_ one soldier and into the next, creating a tapestry of gore as he moved.

The Falcon was the bringer of death, and the Vorak were his unfortunate targets.

It only took a few moments for Joe to defeat the remaining Vorak troops, but by the time he did so, Kelly's convulsions had ceased. She now lay horribly still on the floor, and a cold fear tightened its grip around the Falcon's heart.

The sound of approaching feet sent Joe into a new panic. Quickly, he picked up the Dove, throwing her over his shoulder as he launched himself at the hole in the wall that he had created with his borrowed guns. Literally tearing the metal apart with his bare hands, he squeezed his body and that of the Dove up into the maintenance tubes that were encased in the walls.

By the time fresh Vorak troops arrived a few moments later, the Falcon and the Dove were gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Joe kept moving through the maintenance tubes; the unconscious Dove draped across his back as he crawled through the narrow passageway. Kelly's arms dangled around his neck, her head lolling against Joe's right shoulder blade and her feet dragging on the floor behind him. The Falcon barely noticed her weight, instead concentrating on getting away from the point where they had entered the walls, to avoid any searches the Vorak might be initiating. But Joe knew that any sensor sweeps might pick up their bio-signatures, so he headed in the direction of the one place he knew they would be safe.

Engineering.

The propulsion technology used by the Vorak employed a dilantric matrix. Joe recalled that the resonance factor created by such systems was an effective screen against the monolantric scanning devices the Vorak used. Of course, the range of the dilantric resonance was small, but Joe was thought it was likely that there would be a maintenance shaft above the main engines that was in its area of effect.

It was even better than that. The Falcon found a small storage chamber in the area that had not yet been filled with supplies. He brought the Dove inside, stretching her out as much as he could in the cramped space. Her head ended up on his chest, her body resting on his, Joe's arms and legs cradling her against him.

Kelly remained unconscious, but her seizures had quieted down and she was now completely still. Her shallow breathing and slow pulse frightened Joe. He knew that he had to keep her warm, so he did his best to hold her close to him. However, there was not much else he could do, given the lack of supplies available to him at the moment.

Joe looked down at Kelly's face, willing her eyes to open. He _needed_ her to wake up. Only _she_ knew the code to transmit in order to overload the power couplings and destroy the mecha.

But even more, Joe needed _Kelly_.

It was something he didn't want to admit, even to himself, but as he stared at Kelly's pale skin and blank expression, a cold fear tightened its grip around his heart, and he _knew_.

Joe knew that he loved Kelly.

He had never wanted any emotional attachments. His cybernetic 'enhancements' were only the most recent development that made him 'bad news' all around. Whatever Dr. Andro had done to him brought with it a destiny that was uncertain. Who knew what that crazy scientist had planned for the Falcon? It wasn't a future that boded well for any kind of personal relationship.

And yet, Joe's feelings existed.

Not only did they exist, but they had grown stronger in the weeks since he had returned to the team.

The more Joe had attempted to distance himself from Kelly, the more she had endeared herself to him with her caring concern and the way she was obviously hurting every time she attempted to give him the space he so clearly desired. When Joe was alone at night, it was the Dove who haunted his dreams. He had never told Kelly that it had been his memories of her that had enabled him to get through those dark days when he was recovering from his many surgeries with Dr. Andro. His transformation into a cyborg had been painful in more ways than one, as he had known that with each procedure, he was losing another part of his humanity, and growing further apart from Kelly.

Or so he had thought.

With excruciating slowness, Joe reached out his hand, tenderly grazing Kelly's cheek with his knuckles. He pulled off her mask, letting her ebony mane fall onto his chest, staring at the glistening strands as they settled slowly onto his body.

All in one movement, Joe tore off his own mask, burying his face in the Dove's soft, fragrant hair, his eyes damp with unshed tears.

This was all _his_ fault.

_He_ was the one who had quit the team. _He_ had not made Kelly go back when she had followed him, and _he_ was the one who had dragged her into that damn Vorak base, and onto this mecha.

If it weren't for him, they would both be safe at GSC Headquarters right now.

Joe didn't know if he could live with the knowledge that it had been _his_ actions, his _pride_, that had gotten Kelly killed.

What he did know was that he needed help.

If only he hadn't been so stubborn, he would have stalked off still wearing his bracelet, and right now he could be talking to Hunter, sending out their location, and warning the others about this latest Vorak plot.

Instead, he was on his own, bearing the responsibility for everything that had happened to Kelly.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

A silent sob caught in his throat as he pulled Kelly closer against him, his breath warm against her cold cheek.

"Please…" he begged, a ragged whisper escaping his cracked lips. "Please wake up, Kelly."

The Falcon breathed deeply, tightening his arms around the Dove before he spoke again.

"I need you, Kelly." he told her. "I can't do this alone. I… I…"

A soft noise came from the Dove's throat as her body stirred slightly.

"Kelly?" Joe asked intently. "Are you with me?"

"Joe…"

The Dove's voice sounded so distant, as if she were calling to him across many miles. But she was alive, and the Falcon couldn't have been more overjoyed.

"Kelly…" he breathed, his fingers lightly caressing her cheek, seemingly of their own accord. "Hang in there."

"I…" Kelly blinked carefully, and her eyes came into focus as she looked at Joe's face.

"What happened?" she asked slowly.

"You went into neutronic shock." Joe explained, still holding her within the protective circle of his arms. "I got us out of there, and up into the maintenance tubes. We're hiding out close to the main engines."

"Fooling the sensors…" Kelly laughed quietly, but the sound quickly turned into a hacking cough. When the convulsions subsided, she looked up at Joe admiringly.

"Thank you." she whispered. "Thank you for saving my life." Kelly reached out, gently placing her soft palm on the hard lines of Joe's cheek.

It was as if a magnetic force had been placed there. Joe couldn't tear himself away, and he found his head falling downward, pulling him inexorably toward his greatest desire.

His mouth touched hers; the lightest of contacts, but he felt her lips softening beneath his tentative overture and he moved forward, deepening the pressure by the tiniest fraction.

Her mouth opened slightly, and the Falcon reveled in the sensation of the kiss, knowing that he was connected to the Dove in an entirely new way; an enticing web of emotion wrapping itself around the two of them.

A contented sigh escaped Kelly's throat, and she pulled at Joe's cheek, encouraging him downward, intensifying the kiss and melting into it; their mouths merging and communicating in a way that words never could.

Joe shifted his position slightly, his tongue dancing tenderly across her lips, seeking her own in a teasing game of cat and mouse. She murmured encouragingly, and he could feel her smiling inside of his mouth as she responded in kind, eagerly reciprocating, yet interpreting his reactions in her own unique fashion, only making him desperate for more.

After an eternity, he pulled away, gazing at her luminous emerald eyes and gently stroking the side of her face with his rough, calloused fingertips.

"That was worth waking up for." Kelly breathed with the barest murmur; as if she were afraid that the sound of her voice would shatter the newly created closeness between them.

"I'm just glad that you woke up." Joe replied seriously. "I was sitting here, thinking that I could never live with myself if…"

"Shhh….." Kelly crooned, placing a gentle finger over his lips to silence the Falcon. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, I already told, you, Joe, that I wanted to be with you."

"I know." Joe nodded. "But all the same, we have to talk about… this…"

"Fair enough." Kelly agreed, hesitating only slightly before she spoke again. "We need to destroy this mecha anyhow. How long was I out?"

Joe was startled. He had been so concerned about Kelly that he hadn't actually paid attention to that minor detail.

"Uh…" the Falcon did a quick mental calculation. "About twenty minutes, I think."

"Good." Kelly replied. "We should be over the ocean by now, away from any populated areas." She looked at Joe with a cocky, Falcon-like expression on her face.

"It's time to blow this baby up." she grinned.

"And after?"

"It'll take a couple of minutes to overload. There's got to be an escape pod on this thing. Let's see if we can find it before Mallanox does."

"I like the way you think, Kel."

"I appreciate that, Joe."

"It's just one of the _many_ things I like about you."

To Joe's surprise, Kelly blushed at the compliment.

"I would say the same." she replied softly.

They sat there for a moment longer, the Dove still ensconced within the Falcon's arms, savoring the sudden intimacy they had unexpectedly discovered.

"I think I saw an access terminal along the wall outside this chamber." Joe said. "Let's find that escape pod."

"Not to mention the communications array." Kelly added. "I'll transmit the signal to the power couplings from there, and if we're lucky, I may even be able to send a general warning message to Gateway City."

"Sounds like a plan." Joe nodded.

They quickly found the terminal closes to their hiding place, and Kelly was able to access the information they needed. Unfortunately, it seemed that the escape pod was located on the opposite side of the mecha from the communications array.

"We'll just have to run like hell." Joe said grimly.

"Maybe you could go to the pod and wait for me." Kelly suggested.

"No." Joe replied quickly, shaking his head. "You already tried to get rid of me once, Kel, and look at how that ended up! I'm staying with you, this time."

"I appreciate what you did, before." Kelly said softly. "Thank you, Joe."

"Let's just make sure it doesn't happen again." Joe warned her with mock menace.

"We'll stick together, _Sir_." Kelly saluted jokingly, as they replaced their green, fanged masks over their heads.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They stayed in the maintenance tubes, making their way to the communications array. As they passed by one wall panel, they heard a faint, but familiar, voice and stopped momentarily to listen.

"Are the two intruders confirmed dead, Captain?"

"Yes, Mallanox. There were no survivors. One hit the neutronic force field and collapsed, and the last report had the other being barraged by a hail of laser fire."

"But you don't know for _sure_."

"No one could have survived that, Mallanox. If you had cared to inspect the scene yourself…"

"That's quite all right, Captain. I'll trust your judgment _this_ time."

"Thank you, Sir."

Joe and Kelly grinned at each other. This was certainly a stroke of luck. No wonder they hadn't been detected!

Careful not to create any noise, the pair made their way along the maintenance shaft to the communications array. When they arrived, the pair pressed their ears to the wall panel, but heard nothing on the other side. Cautiously, Joe stuck his head out, only to come face to face with a surprised Vorak guard. This one was merely an android, and was quickly downed by the Falcon even before Joe had exited from the maintenance tube and into the room.

"All clear." Joe reported.

"Thank you, Sir." Kelly teased him as she climbed out of the shaft.

They accessed the array, and the Dove went about her work quickly.

"I was able to send a message to Gateway City." she informed Joe. "But to ensure that they would receive it, I had to send the signal on a general distress channel. Hopefully the Vorak won't realize that they are transmitting, right away."

"I'm glad you got through." Joe said approvingly. "That should give Gateway City a chance to prepare, in case we're not successful."

Kelly looked at Joe, her expression deadly serious.

"We'll be successful." she assured him.

"I know." he said, gently squeezing her shoulder.

The Dove worked on the communications system for a minute longer, then looked up.

"Time to go!" she announced. "We have about a minute before this thing blows."

Even as she finished speaking, the Falcon was dragging her out of the room. There was no time for crawling through narrow maintenance tubes now. They had to reach that escape pod as quickly as possible. Once again, they found themselves running through the corridors of the wasp mecha, Joe pulling Kelly along at top speed.

A few seconds later, they heard a loud alarm sounding.

"_Alert! Fire in Engineering, All hands, evacuate immediately."_

Joe cursed loudly. Kelly was just too damn efficient at blowing stuff up. This was happening entirely too fast.

They rounded the last corner, the hatch to Mallanox's escape pod clearly visible now. Joe sprinted up to the spot using all possible speed, slamming his hand on the access pad, but the door refused to open.

_"Pod launched."_ announced a computerized voice.

"Damn it all to hell!" Joe shouted.

"There were no other escape pods." Kelly said quietly.

The Falcon and the Dove stared at each other for a second, realizing that Mallanox had escaped, leaving them behind him to die on the doomed mecha.

"We'll be okay." Joe reassured Kelly, although the Falcon didn't quite believe his own words.

"I trust you, Joe." Kelly said simply, placing her hand in his and squeezing it gently.

The Falcon began pulling the Dove down the corridor again, attempting to get as far away from the mecha's engines as possible. But only a few seconds later, the entire craft shook under their feet, sending them both stumbling to the floor.

"_Hypercore breach."_ the emergency automated voice informed them. _"Overload imminent."_

The Vorak craft heaved and bucked beneath them, preventing the Falcon and the Dove from regaining their feet. Explosions rocked the vessel, and a burst of flame suddenly appeared behind the pair.

"Stay down!" shouted Joe, rolling Kelly over to the right-angled juncture where the floor met the wall, pushing her as far as possible into the 'corner' and then positioning himself on top of her. In all of the confusion, Kelly's mask had been lost, and her ebony hair spilled over the floor beneath her as she looked up at him, fear finally showing itself in her wide eyes.

"I'll protect you." Joe promised, pulling her into him, so that his body covered hers entirely, his heavy weight keeping the two of them in place as the mecha continued to shake.

"Joe…"

Kelly's voice was strained, and he could hear the fear running through it. The emotion was almost tangible, but there was something else present as well.

"I just want you to know:" she swallowed nervously, then seemed to regain a sense of calm, "I'm glad I'm with _you_, Joe."

"I love you." she finished, her eyes connecting with his.

Even as Joe was opening his mouth to respond, a giant explosion rocked the Vorak ship, and a massive fireball rushed toward them down the corridor. Joe pulled Kelly even closer to him, attempting to cover her entire body with his own. He barely had time to breath before the wall of flames crashed over them.

His Birdstyle, even in civilian form, did not burn, but the same was not true of his borrowed Vorak uniform. He felt the mask on his head crumbling to ash, and the heat at his back told him that the same thing was happening to his clothing in that location as well. He did not worry about his exposed arms, as he knew his new 'flesh' was capable of withstanding exposure to molten lava.

He was not worried about _himself_.

He was worried about_Kelly_.

The Dove did not move beneath him, but was curled into as small a form as she could manage under his body. He tightened his grip around her, ensuring that he was covering her head and arms: the areas of her body not protected by her civilian Birdstyle. Fiery death swept over them, filling the entire corridor, but Kelly remained untouched by the angry flames.

The burst of fire was followed by another, and another; explosion after explosion rocking the mecha. After what seemed like an eternity, but was likely less than a minute, a thunderous metallic scraping sound echoed throughout the Vorak craft, the walls vibrating with the force of it before finally snapping.

The floor next to their position began to crack. Joe saw a flash of blue sky beneath them, and the next thing he knew they were tumbling through the air, the Falcon gripping the Dove as if she were the most precious thing in the world to him.

And indeed, she was.

Kelly made no sound, and he wasn't even certain if she heard him shouting to her as they plummeted downward.

"Hold your breath!"

The pair plunged into the ocean, the incredible impact with the water nearly knocking the air out of the Falcon's lungs. Instinctively he kicked, attempting to fight the momentum pulling them toward the watery ocean depths. Even as he did so, he was aware that Kelly was a dead weight in his arms, unmoving. Raw panic propelled him, and he burst through the ocean's surface gasping for air. Frantically, he examined Kelly as best he could, given their precarious circumstances. Her unconscious state did nothing to ease the worst of his fears.

Above them, the remnants of Waspagon rained fiery chunks of metallic debris into the ocean, and the Falcon began swimming away from the impact zone, carrying the Dove in an extended arm tow maneuver.

Waves crashed over his face, and the weight of his cyborg body, not to mention that of the Dove, began pulling him down. Yet inexorably Joe moved forward, survival being his only thought, his only priority, his only option.

He damn well wasn't going to give up now.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Her eyes hurt.

Now that she thought about it, her whole body ached something fierce, as if she had been smacked against a concrete wall, over and over again. But most of all, it was her eyes that bothered her; a gritty, stinging feeling beneath the lids.

A cough welled up in her throat as she gasped for air, hacking and choking, water spilling forth from her lungs and onto the sand beneath her as her body was rolled slightly to let it out.

Sand?

That would explain what was going on with her eyes.

She gasped again, this time filling her lungs with warm, fragrant air, sucking it in gratefully even as she reached up to rub weakly at her eyes.

She blinked blearily, an image in front of her slowly coming into focus.

"Joe…"

"I love you too, Kelly."

Those few words revived her instantly, sweeping away all pain and discomfort as she gazed at the bedraggled man hovering above her. He smiled, and suddenly Kelly had never felt better in her life.

"I didn't know if you were going to wake up." he confessed, "and I promised myself that if you did, I would tell you how I felt."

"I'm glad you did." she replied softly.

Kelly attempted to lift her body, struggling to sit up and look around. Joe supported her, putting his arm around her shoulders as she surveyed the surrounding area.

They were on some kind of beach. Other than the smoking remains of Waspagon, there was nothing visible on the water in front of them: no land, no boats. Only a clear, blue sky, marred slightly by the dark, oily clouds billowing up from the mecha's debris.

Looking behind her, Kelly realized that she and Joe were on a small island, not much more than a sand bar really, with a small grove of palm trees, and not much else.

"What happened?" she asked. "Last thing I remember, the mecha was falling apart."

"It did fall apart." Joe confirmed. "We fell into the water, and I got us here." The Falcon shrugged casually, but the Dove saw the tightening behind his eyes, and heard the words left unsaid.

"It seems that I should be thanking you, again." she murmured.

"We're a team, Kel." Joe replied. "You did your part, and I did mine."

"A team… the _two_ of us…" she mused. "I like that."

"It sounds good to me, too." Joe agreed. "I'm glad you were with me for this, Kelly."

"Didn't I say the same thing to you?" she smiled, the moments before the mecha had exploded replaying themselves in her mind.

"True," Joe admitted, "but this is different."

"How so?"

The answer came not in words, but in the form of a tender kiss brushing her lips and sending tingles down her spine. Eagerly she responded in kind, entwining her arms around Joe's neck and running her fingers through his damp, singed hair. Gently, he eased her back down to the sand, his hand tracing the curve of her hip through the remnants of the sodden green uniform she wore.

A small flame flickered inside of Kelly, steadily growing stronger as Joe carefully tended to it, until it burned of its own accord, being sustained by the physical and emotional response the Dove was having to the Falcon's actions.

Kelly sighed throatily, voicing her pleasure in the moment and in this newfound closeness she was sharing with Joe. He responded by deepening the intensity of the kiss, stroking and caressing her mouth with his until she was left gasping for air.

Joe pulled away slightly to catch his breath, gently tracing the line of Kelly's cheekbone with a single finger, staring into her heavy lidded eyes intently. In his face, Kelly saw a naked vulnerability that she had never expected in someone as independent as Joe was, and silently she communicated her intention to him: to never betray the enormous faith he was placing in her.

"I think I'm going to like being on this team." she smiled, running her hand lightly along his arm and over his chest.

"It's just as well." Joe replied, taking her fingers and pressing them softly to his lips. "You're stuck with me, Kel."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you." Kelly laughed. "I don't think you're ever getting rid of me now, Joe. I love you, and I'm never going to let you forget it."

"I love you too, Kelly."

They gazed upon each other for a moment, a sense of awe rising up in them at the _rightness_ of those simple words in describing the relationship between them, and both were incredulous that they had never realized it before.

"At least I did _something_ right today." Kelly said, still smiling at Joe. "Everything else I was involved in just turned out to be one big mess."

"Quite a spectacular mess." agreed Joe, nodding at the smoking remnants of Waspagon visible on the ocean waters in the distance.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it, Joe." the Dove chided him gently. "There were too many close calls, today."

"I know." the Falcon admitted, clutching her tightly against his chest. "I should have thought things out better."

"It's not that, Joe." Kelly said quietly. "What we really needed was some _help_; not to do everything on our own."

The Dove didn't say anything further, but it was clear to both of them what she was thinking.

They had needed the other Eagle Riders.

Joe bowed his head, silently admitting that she was right. If they had only had their bracelets, they could have transformed to Eagle Mode and more easily escaped the doomed mecha. If they had had the others to assist them, they might not have been caught in such a terrible hand-to-hand battle with the Vorak soldiers. As it was, neither of them had any idea how they were going to get off of this scrap of land in the middle of nowhere.

"Kelly, when we get back, I…"

The rest of Joe's words were lost as a thunderous roar heralded the arrival of something neither of them had expected.

The Ultra Eagle.

The warship rapidly decelerated from what had obviously been its top speed. The Ultra Eagle circled the wide swath of floating debris from the ruined mecha, before suddenly turning and making a beeline for the tiny island on which the Falcon and the Dove stood.

Slowly, the Ultra Eagle descended to the water's surface, three winged figures rising to the top of the hull before leaping upward, flying through the air and gliding to the sand in a graceful arc.

"Hunter…"

Joe greeted the Hawk casually, as if there were nothing unusual in his Commander's sudden appearance. The Falcon's arm rested in a familiar fashion around the Dove's shoulders, neither of them in the least shy about their newfound closeness.

"It looks like you two have been busy." Hunter remarked, his tone unreadable.

Kelly glanced down at the torn, sodden green uniform she wore, and the damp, charred remnants of Joe's own borrowed garments.

"You could say that." Joe laughed.

"How did you find us?" Kelly asked curiously, looking at her three former teammates. "Or is this just a coincidence?"

"We were just about to return to Gateway City when we got word of a strange message they had received." Hunter replied. "It came from roughly these co-ordinates, and was sent on a Vorak frequency. Dr. Keane got suspicious and checked it out. He told us that the two of you were in the area as well."

"But, how…?" Kelly was confused.

"Locators!" Mickey blurted out gleefully. "In your shoes!"

"What the hell?" Joe asked angrily.

"Apparently, Dr. Keane installed special locator devices in the shoes of our civilian uniforms." Hunter elaborated. "I didn't know about it until today, either."

"Yeah, Joe, after the battle with the Vorak where you disappeared…" Ollie stopped speaking when Hunter shot a stern look in his direction.

"They usually aren't active," the Hawk said, "but Dr. Keane figured that in an emergency it might be important to know our exact locations."

"So, he activated these devices?" Joe surmised.

"We were worried about you!" Ollie rushed to respond. "We didn't want you going off again, like you did after…" The Owl's voice trailed off as he realized that he was approaching a sensitive subject.

"You can say it, Ollie." Joe said grimly. "_After I became a cyborg._ Dr. Keane didn't want anything like that happening again."

"To be fair, Joe," Kelly said softly, looking up at the Falcon, "It killed us not knowing where you were; never finding your body."

To everyone's surprise, the angry lines on Joe's face immediately softened, and he bowed his head apologetically.

"I guess I can understand that." he said.

For a moment, everyone stood in shocked silence, and then Hunter spoke again, clearly making an effort to act as if nothing at all unusual had just happened.

"When you left, you forgot something."

The Hawk's blue glove flashed as he pulled something out of his belt pouch and tossed it into the air.

The item split in two, the pieces falling toward Joe and Kelly. Instinctively, they caught the objects, glancing down at their hands to see their bracelets glinting up at them in the sunlight.

Kelly looked over at Joe, her eyes questioning.

The Falcon stared at the Dove, knowing what she wanted him to do, and understanding in his heart that it was the _right_ course of action. He realized that she would stay with him, regardless of what he decided to do, but if he had learned anything today, it was that he didn't want to be alone, in _any_ sense of the word.

"Thanks, Hunter." Joe said quietly, snapping his bracelet around his wrist. Kelly beamed at him, fastening her own bracelet on her left arm.

The two of them changed to Eagle Mode together, stepping forward to rejoin their team.

"It's good to have you back on the team, Joe." the Hawk said.

"It's good to be back on _your_ team, Hunter." the Falcon replied, offering his hand to the other man. They clasped hands tightly, before letting go.

Mickey cheered and Ollie grinned from ear to ear, while Kelly simply smiled and softly squeezed Joe's hand.

"Thank you, Joe." she whispered to him, as the others moved off to check out the tiny island.

"I didn't do it for you."

Joe stared intently at Kelly, his grey-blue eyes deadly serious as he spoke again.

"I did it for _me_."

"I'm glad." Kelly replied. "I just want you to be happy, Joe."

"_You_ make me happy."

"Did it take quitting the team to make you realize that?" Kelly laughed.

Joe nodded, a slow grin manifesting itself on his otherwise stern face.

"Then, I'm glad we did." Kelly winked.

The Falcon's response was to bend his head slightly, lowering his mouth to hers. He swore softly as his visor met that of the Dove, thwarting his intentions.

"I _knew_ coming back would have its downside." he lamented.

"We'll figure it out, Joe." Kelly promised, a flirtatious smile crossing her delicate features. "_Together_."


End file.
